Working Together
by YaboiC
Summary: An Alliance soldier on a mission to extract as many civilians as possible. During this he finds an unexpected ally in a female Turian, on her own personal mission. Slow burning follows and they find just deep their feelings can run. That any good?
1. Chapter 1

Archer was not having the best luck.

He continued to remind himself that as he drove his omni-sheild into yet another husk throwing itself at him before turning his M-6 Carnifex at an engaging Cannibal.

He had been fighting like this for almost two days, and with very little rest to add. His original mission was taking place on the Turian Colony of Epyrus, which he thought to be strange. Why was he and a squad of other Alliance marines being sent to a planet he'd never heard about?

Apparenlty this planet and colony were famous for its industrial complexes and produced over 2% of the Hierachy's military vehicles and weapons, amongst other parties. He'd also learned that there were more than just Turians living here with a high population of Salarian, Asari, Batarian and even Human settlers. Again he wondered how evacuating this colonies inhabitants would help until he was given word about the Crucible and he realised that almost every colonist on Epyrus were extremely skilled engineers and armourers. With the Hierachy preoccupied with Palavin the Alliance made a deal in which if they could evacuate the colonists they would help build the Reaper destroying weapon.

This however took a turn for the worse as the Reapers may have already known their victims talents and proceeded to press their attack with a ferocious intent. Speeding up their process of destroying or indoctrinating the inhabitants. When the Alliance sent their forces they realised small teams of infiltration units armed with communication beacons would have a much easier task of reaching the ground (and inhabitants) than a large frontal assault. They were to reach pockets of survivors and call in extractions over a period of 3 weeks. Archer had been involved in one of these extraction teams, emphasise on the "had" as almost immediately after landing the squad was under constant attack which eventually whittled the team of 8 to 5, then 3 and now just one.

So here was Archer balls deep in Reaper forces with almost no way of getting back, unless he somehow survived and found another squad. "Not fucking likely" he muttered as he slammed in one of his few remaining thermal clips.

He suddenly heard a loud crash behind him, spinning around just in time to have a Brute ram itself into his shield knocking him back several metres before crashing against a wall. "Fantastic. Absolutely fucking FANTASTIC" he screamed. The Brute lined up for another charge and Archer rolled himself out of the way before flinging an incineration at the hulking beast hoping to at least burn away some armour. He rolled a second time, narrowly avoiding a swinging blow from its massive disfigured claw before proceeding to set his Omni-tool to snap freeze and charged at its unprotected legs. The two technical influences clashed together, resulting in a combo explosion which sent the brute reeling. Before he felt too good with himself he felt his shields ping behind him, turning around his heart sank as he discovered a group of Cannibals. He may have been able to take one Brute with skill but with these new reinforcements he knew this may be the end.

Suddenly two of the Cannibals screamed in pain, their yellow/brown skin moulting to a sickly shade of green before falling dead, one of which had two barbed blades imbedded in its bulbous back. As the rest of the Cannibals scrambled to the find the new attacker Archer had time to try and finish of the Brute who looked to have recovered. He fired three shots from his powerful handgun, all connecting with its grey flesh, the Brute not being the smartest fighter chose to charge a third time which Archer again simply dodged. He sent forth another incinerate followed by three more shots into its unprotected back, which finally drew a death scream from the disfigured monster before it slumped to the ground. He finally took time to survey his surroundings realising that the Cannibal reinforcements had all been killed with their bodies strewn around the courtyard. Walking over to the nearest corpse he saw yet again two barbed and wickedly sharp blades sunk deep into its body. He went to pull one out before a voice stopped him, "I wouldn't touch the blades, they're covered in poison".

Spinning around and bearing his Omni-shield he jumped a little in shocked at how close she was. The Turian female was standing a few metres from him, her shockingly green eyes staring directly into his own. Though only measuring up to his nose she stood with an air of superiority and confidence with her light armour showing the contours of her lithe body. He saw a firearm on her hip but his eyes were drawn to her wrists which bore the same barbed blades he saw in the cannibals, they were housed in a form of fancy gauntlets which he guessed stored more of the lethal weapons.

He lowered his large shield "you're handiwork I take it?" nodding his head in at the corpse. "Excellent detective work. You made yourself a good distraction for the brute so I figured I might as well take the advantage." She cocked her head. "You weren't exactly quiet." He chuckled at her brisk reply.

"Look at me, does it look like I was built for being quiet?"

She gave him a onceover, noting how large he was for a human, his armour was heavy and fortified with a Deathmask helmet planted on his head. His right hand carried a large pistol while left had what she assumed to be a heavily modified Omni-tool forming a large shield.

"I thought the Turians were too busy to do this?" His question stopped her examination, drawing her to look up at his helmet.

"Do what?"

"Help with the mission?" He tilted his head "that's why you're here isn't it?"

She gave him a strange look before shaking her head and walking over to a cannibal, skilfully removing the blades before slotting them inside her gauntlets.

"I'm here for a personal reason, the Hierarchy doesn't even know I'm here and I plan to keep it that way"

"You're disobeying the Hierarchy? Isn't that like super bad for you guys? I thought you followed orders to the death."

She stood up before giving him a piercing look "In case you haven't noticed we are being exterminated, I'm not going to waste my time fighting for a lost battle, I plan to actually get something done."

"Which is?"

"Like I said, personal. Leave it at that." She patted him on the chest before walking off.

She had walked a few paces before Archer lumbered up beside her.

"Just hang on a mo. I've been alone out here for almost three days now fighting for my life, you obviously have fighting experience so we need to stick together here, for both our sakes."

"I work fine on my own thanks" she retorted still looking straight ahead.

"Don't give me that lone wolf bullcrap, people's lives are at risk and you're the first proper soldier I've seen in a while. My job was to find them and get them off this planet and I can't do that if it's just me. You think you'll have a better chance of leaving if it's just you? Reaper forces are pouring into this place every day and it won't be long before they cover this entire colony. We need each other"

She slowed down a bit when she heard him speak of the extraction plan before stopping and turning to him. "Why's the Alliance so interested in this place anyway? It's a Turian colony why would they send the men to extract our people?"

Archer wondered whether he should tell her about the Crucible before realising they're both on the same side, and trust is in short supply.

"The Alliance is in the process of building a weapon that will hopefully destroy the Reapers. These colonists are some of the best engineers in the side of the Milky Way and would really help us out".

If the Turian was surprised it was hard to tell, she looked over him with what he could only imagine was curiosity.

"Is it just for Human colonists?"

"Of course not, our mission was to extract as many as we could find, regardless of their race. They could be a goddamn Elcor and I'd still push their big ass onto a shuttle".

She stared at him for a while more before finally speaking. "My brother is a colonist, that's why I'm here. I was planning to just find him but if what you're saying is true..." her mandibles flapped slightly "then you're right. We should stay together. I can take you to the area where he lives and you can call in the extraction."

Archer secretly beamed under his helmet, "finally some good luck" he thought to himself. With the two of them together they may have a solid chance of reaching this colony and getting off this planet.

"We have a deal then" before stretching out his armoured hand. She placed her smaller clawed hand into his and they shook, securing the partnership.

"My name's Archer if you're interested, Archer Davis".

"Laetana. Laetana Ablius"


	2. Chapter 2: Learning

**Hello everyone! Firstly thank you for the kind and helpful reviews, being my first fanfic I hope I'm not ballsing it up too much.  
This chapter has our protagonists learning a bit more about each other before the night is through and bit of that playful banter.  
Alright, that's all  
Cheers. **

They both walked in silence, Archer because he was tired and Laetana because she wanted to keep an ear out for signs of an ambush. They both had decided to skirt to the grassy outskirts of the road and derelict buildings for there was a distinctive lack of rubble. After what seemed a couple of hours Archer broke the silence,

"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you?" Laetana looked up with confusion. "Um…a Turian?"

"No I mea- shit that came out weird. I meant your style of fighting. I've been on a few training exercises with you guys so I know you have you're soldiers, engineers even a few biotics. But you, I've never really seen you're fighting style before."

"I'm a Cabal".

He waited for her to continue. When it was clear she wasn't he pressed more.

"Yeah…see I have no idea what a Cabal is. You're gonna have to explain that to the human".

She gave her eyes a small roll before explaining "I'm a biotic, mostly, but I also have soldiering experience. What's those soldiers your Alliance uses? Vangods?"

"Vanguards".

"Well think of me like a Vanguard, I know the basic biotics warp, pull, but I also charge in. Except I don't stop when I hit an enemy, I go right through them."

Archer slowed his walking "wait as in figuratively or you literally go through them?"

"Literally"

"Right…ok. And that damages them?"

Laetana lifts up one hand showing her blade laden gauntlet. "It does when I sweep these through the body. Add some poison and most enemies are either paralysed or have bleed out. Quick and clean." She lowered her arm and stared up towards the sky. "There isn't many of us. The training usually weeds out the weakest and not everyone can be trained to use deathly poisonous blades correctly. You'd be surprised on how many accidently almost kill themselves."

"Bugger me. I'm glad you're my side then".

"What?"

"I said I'm glad you're on my side".

'No I heard that. What was that phrase you said before?"

"Bugger me. It's a way of expressing surprise"

It was Laetana's turn to slow down and she gave Archer a strange look. "I've met a lot of humans and I have never heard that phrase." The look she was giving deepened. "Nor have I ever heard your accent before, it's rather strange"

Archer gave a chuckle, "believe me the amount of times I've heard that sentence, even from other humans. I'm from a country called New Zealand. All New Zealanders have these funny accents, not being very many in the Alliance we're often not heard from other species".

"Is a country a type of city? Settlement?"

"What? Nah nah, a country… have you ever seen earth?"

"Pictures on the extranet."

"Well you know how there's specific land masses surrounded by water? Each of those is called a country. Each country has its own beliefs, government, fauna (he points to his mask) and accents."

Laetana was ready to ask more questions before she became deathly still, hers eyes quickly scanning the hills and trees near their right. Noticing her sudden stop and tensing Archer upholstered his handgun and silently readied his omni-tool to spring up his shield.

"Contact?" He whispered.

Laetana raised her hand for silence, her face plastered with concentration. "Something over those hills" Nodding her head the direction. Without warning the telltale rasp/shriek was emitted and a pack of Husks sprinted over the hill, there had to at least be 15.

"SHIT" yelled Archer as he sprang up his shield and unloaded his Carnifex into the nearest Husk, its head breaking apart.

Laetana unsheathed her deadly looking blades and charged into the pack, as she said she passed through three of them, swiping the weapons as the moved. The Husks struck were split open collapsing to the ground while others caught in the devastating attack were left weakened and poisoned.

Archer aimed at another of the monstrosities before he realised he'd just used his last thermal clip, his gun now useless he threw it aside and planted his massive boot into a charging Husk, thumping it to the ground before ramming the end of his shield into its face, cracking into its skull and wrenching it free. He quickly set his Omni-shield to snap-freeze and thundered into a clustered group barrelling them aside. Those who had made direct contact began to slow and freeze over before being smashed apart by his armoured gauntlet. He felt a husk jump onto his back and begin to claw at his helmet, he grabbed the thing by an arm and leg before launching himself upwards and slamming down onto his back. After rolling over the stunned Husk he began to mercilessly unload his fists into its face driving it inwards until there was a resounding crunch. He jumped up for more before realising the pack was destroyed with only a few writhing on the ground still being affected by the lethal poison. While Archer was about as quiet as a charging Water Buffalo, Laetana had barely made a sound in her killing, however was just as effective as Archer noticed there were more sliced and split bodies to his crushed ones.

With his adrenaline now gone he was hit once more with a wave of tiredness that almost drove him to kneel. Laetana appeared next to him, presenting his gun that he'd tossed aside.

"You alright?"

He took the gun and struggled to stand, "yeah, just tired. It's been a while since I've slept."

She looked down at her own smaller omni-tool realising it was heading into the evening, she herself was beginning to feel the creeping presence of fatigue.

She lightly punched him in the shoulder. "We'll walk for another half an hour in case there's more Reaper troops and hole up in a building for the night. Can't have you falling asleep on me."

"Grown fond of me have you?" He said it with humour in his voice.

"You're certainly helpful in a fight but there's no way I'd be able to carry your big ass should you collapse on me"

"You wound me madam".'

She gave a small laugh before tossing him thermal clip and striding forward, leaving Archer to jog after her.

Like she promised after walking for a good half hour they stopped and found a second story building, most windows were intact and Archer could easily open and lock the doors with his omni-tool. They searched the kitchen and lower floors for supplies before heading upstairs to what they assumed was the upstairs lounge. Luckily the inhabitants were not home and Archer hoped that they had made it somewhere safe. He locked the door behind them and collapsing onto a couch. After fighting for so long and having more near death experiences than he'd ever want in a lifetime he finally began to relax and could help giving a small chuckle.

"What?" Ask Laetana as she too had found a couch to collapse onto.

"This is the first time in a while that I've been able to just…sit. Relax. It feels damn good."

"Well get all the sleep you can" she said with a smile, or at least a Turian version of a smile, "cause we're going to be up early tomorrow."

He gave a large sigh, causing her the laugh slightly before removing his helmet. Laetana realised she has had no idea what this human looks like and tried to not seem too eager to see his face. With the last strap removed Archer pulled off his helmet before setting it down, he looked up at Laetana who was unsuccessfully trying to hide her curiosity, her eyes doing tiny movements, taking in her features.

Her first though was "not bad for a human" before she moved to his facial features, he seemed to have a short dark brown beard followed by moderately thick eyebrows. His face was proportionate and his nose was slightly bent to the right (perhaps an injury?) she kept soaking him in before her eyes were drawn to his. While hers were a soft, mellow green his was a beautiful piercing blue and they seemed to bore right through her. She quickly adverted her gaze and began finding her pack the most interesting thing in the world.

"I can't be that bad looking am I?"

She looked up again to see him giving a wide smile, showing his teeth.

"You're certainly not the worst human I've seen"

"Then I will take that as a compliment. You're certainly not the worst Turian I've seen. Mind you all I've really met are the males, and they aren't exactly the prettiest things in the galaxy."

It was a light-hearted jest and Laetana took it as such, chuckling while also self-consciously blushing.  
"Well it's better than looking like a shaved, giant Pyjack. Except I'm pretty sure Pyjacks have smaller ears."

Archer gave her his famous smile "ok I'll admit that's pretty good. Actually that reminds me of this story about when I was in basic training and we got a Pyjack drunk…."

While Archer told his story Laetana couldn't help be fixed on his face, she'd never had a problem with interspecies relationships although never done it herself, but this human…She shook her head, banishing the thought, all that is important to her now is finding Serbius and getting off this planet. "Spirits please keep him safe" she thought to herself.


	3. Chapter 3: Fighting

**I actually got these character ideas through playing ME3 online as they're actual classes you can be. Ever get the chance you should jam it. I also thought I should do a little bit of clearing up on Archer's build. Remember the Shadow's Broker shield? That's what Archer has and he can set that to incinerate or snap freeze and smash it into someone. However if he wants to "throw" a tech power at a distant enemy he has to close the shield down to launch it forwards. Sweet?  
In this chapter Laetana and Archer make it to the main colony although without some distractions along the way. What distractions? Well read it and found out heheheheh.  
Cheers.**

He woke up to possibly the loudest alarm in existence.

Archer's eyes shot open at the terrible noise and instantly reached for his gun while launching off the couch. He was immediately knocked to the ground by Laetana, pinning him down with her strong legs and ushering (to put it plainly) to shut the fuck up and stay still.

He craned his head to the window behind them and his eyes nearly ran from his head. A Reaper Destroyer, all 160 metres of it, was hulking passed their temporary shelter. Archer ogled the death machine as it passed, staying as still as he possibly could. What then seemed to be forever the thumps of its feet pummelling the ground became quieter and Archer realised he was holding his breath, he also realised the very intermit position they were both in with Laetana essentially straddling him with his hands (unknowingly) on her waist. Laetana seemed to notice too as she jumped off him like he was scorching hot, her face clearly flushed.

Archer hauled himself off the ground and an awkward silence settled in, regardless of the giant Reaper that had just walked past. Laetana thankfully snapped the silence.

"It was damaged"

Archer who was fiddling with his ration pack spun around, "who was?"

"The Reaper, it was damaged. Not hugely but something had clearly attacked it and made a sufficient dent for it to leave." She looked out the window once more as if expecting the machine to be peeking through the window. "It was heading away from my Brothers colony" she added quietly.

Archer stopped fighting with the packet of food and walked over to her, choosing his words carefully "you said it was damaged, maybe the colony has defences and they we able to drive it off?"

"Who could drive off a Reaper and still be left standing" she mumbled back.

Archer knew they were both soldiers, watching people die, even sometimes the ones they're close too comes with the job. But he could also see this was effecting her more than she let on.

"Do you have any other family?"

She shook her head, "just him. Our parents have been dead for some time."

Archer walked over to her, placing his large hands on her shoulders and staring into her eyes with a determination. "I promise you this, we are going to get to that colony, we are going to find your brother and we are going to get the fuck outta here, and I will do everything that I can to help you". Archer didn't really know what came over him, it was a difficult promise. Maybe he was just sick of this war, sick of seeing people die, sick of the hopelessness around him.

Laetana looked up at this big, dopey human and smiled. She didn't quite know why, but his words helped her relax.

"Alright" She replied. "Let's get to this colony."

"And God help any Reapers that stand in our way" he beamed back.

"God why do you hate me" whined Archer as Reapers stood in their way.

He hefted up his Omni-shield and held it in front while simultaneously firing off rounds at an incoming husk. They'd barely be walking an hour before a troop of forces intercepted them at a congestion of broken and destroyed buildings. Laetana had zipped off to the side to begin slowly pick them off while Archer remained to be the centre of attention. He was a big target after all.

He closed down his shield briefly and proceeded to throw an incineration into a group of Cannibals taking cover. Some already weakened by previous injuries fell dead immediately, their skin blistering and blackening from the flames. The others had little time to recover as Archer threw himself over the small blockade and fire his Phalanx into the nearest ones head before turning around and using shield like a giant spatula, flipping the remaining survivor over his back before firing again in between its four eyes.

There was silence for the briefest of moments before loud shot rang out and Archer barely managing to swing his shield around to block the projectile. He saw from his HUD the shot was from a Widow and it took a small portion off his Omni-shield's usually untouchable health. He looked up to see a Marauder perched on top of a crumbling building, screeching at him before firing off another round from the powerful weapon. Archer got behind a pillar as the round smashed into it, making shards of concrete bounce off his armour and helmet.

"Laetana!" He bellowed, there's a Marauder at…" He looked at his digital compass "32 northwest of my positon! I'm going to set off an overload, when I do see if you can finish it!" Hoping she heard his plan he closed down his Omni-sheild and primed the electrical attack. Jumping out from the cover he heard a round whizz passed his helmet before turning to the Marauder. He flung forwards the overload and saw it connect with the monster, causing its shields to dissipate and making it involuntary shake. Just like he hoped Laetana appeared and slashed her serrated blades across its back and chest at such speed she was almost unseen, causing blue/black blood to gush from the wounds and its skin to meld green. Unable to respond to the two strong attacks its legs collapsed underneath itself and it lazily cartwheeled through the air before landing with a resounding thud. Archer popped a thermal clip before slotting his gun away, the area now a deathly quiet. Laetana emerged next to him and prodded the Marauder with her boot.

"These things always creep me out, the sound that they make" she gave an involuntary shudder.

Archer bent down to look at the corpse before his eyes were drawn to the Widow lying in the grass. He had half a mind to take it, they were extremely reliable and powerful weapons. He himself have never used a sniper but Laetana or someone at this Colony may have use for it. He stood up to walk over before he was hit with an unimaginable pain and was sent flying through the air before smashing into one of the desecrated buildings. His HUD flashed red indicated all shields were down.

As he tried to right himself the ear-splitting shriek filled his ears. He knew they were in trouble.

As he struggled to stand the Banshee materialised directly in front of him hoisting him up with little effort and Archer was blessed with a close view of its disfigured face. While this was happening Laetana cursed herself multiple times for letting such an enemy get near them without her knowledge. Without thinking she rushed forwards and suck her blades deep into the corrupted Asari's flesh causing it to drop Archer and swing its grotesquely long nailed hand in her direction.

Laetana nimbly ducked the blow before deftly flipping backwards into a crouched position. She knew close quarter fighting would be a death threat against a Banshee so she opted for ranged, expelling two blades towards the Reaper trooper while simultaneously firing her own handgun. The blades hit true, striking into the Banshee while the mass accelerated rounds were mostly absorbed by its biotic barrier. "I need something bigger" and her eyes immediately fell to the Marauder's Widow, lying just a few feet away. The Widow seemingly read her thoughts and unleashed its biotic attack while giving its famous shriek. Laetana skilfully dodged the homing ball of biotic destruction and started to sprint towards the large gun. As she reached out the Banshee materialised next to her and connected the back of its hand with Laetana's torso, sending the Turian woman cartwheeling and landing painfully. She tried to regain herself but was painfully aware of the Banshee bearing down on her and preparing itself for another attack. Thankfully it never came as Archer had seemed too recovered and thundered into its back with his shield, knocking the wind out of it and partially setting it ablaze.

With small flames licking up its back it turned its attention to him and lashed out with its claws which scraped harmlessly off his shield. He kept his shield high while firing point blank into its swollen stomach. Learning from last time instead of melee attacking the Banshee simply crossed its arms and began to glow blue before unleashing its wide biotic attack throwing back Archer (yet again) to crash into a building (yet again).

Annoyed that he was still alive it strode towards him with remarkable speed before grabbing his entire head with its hand and violently wrenching him upwards. It looked into his visor and screamed directly into his face, his helmets audio filters almost breaking form the noise. The Banshee then used its other hands blade-like finger nails to slowly dig into his chest, his helmet muffling his screams.

"HEY BITCH"

The Banshee swung it head around furiously and it eyes suddenly going wide in shock. It was staring directly into the barrel of a Widow.

"Don't fucking touch him".

The rifle exploded and the Banshee's barrier did nothing to stop the high powered round from coursing through it face. Its head burst apart like overly ripe fruit before the body crumpled to the ground along with the Archer.

The area was quiet once more.

Laetana threw down the gun and ran over to Archer feverously unlocking off his chest armour and rolling up his under armour to inspect the wounds. Luckily the claws had only penetrated a couple of centimetres and required only a generous slathering of Medi-gel, although it still would've hurt like absolute hell.

Archer while being tendered too he shakily took off his helmet and watched as Laetana rub over his pectorals and abdomen.

"If I knew all I had to do was get stabbed by a Banshee to have you touch me like this, I would've done it sooner."

She looked towards his face and painfully prodded one of the already sealing holes, eliciting a gasp and swear from him.

"Hol' shitfuck! Sorry, I'm sorry." He silently watched her work before turning serious for a moment.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it" she replied without looking up.

"No. I'm serious. If you weren't here I'm pretty sure I would've been plastered all over these walls. You pretty much saved my arse".

He placed his hand on hers and gave it a light squeeze. She stopped working and stared at their hands before looking up to meet Archer's gaze. They stayed like that for a few seconds before realising how ridiculous they looked and quickly stood, although both could not hide the blushes creeping up their neck and face.

Archer rolled back down his padding and reattached his armour before looking at her once again.

"Please tell me we're close. I really don't want to go through that shit again."

"Is the big, bad human scared of a few Banshees?"

"No I'm scared of one yelling in my face again." He put a finger in ear and rubbed. "Pretty sure I'm partly deaf due to that screaming bitch."

Laetana picked up the Widow and stored it onto her back before looking to the horizon.

"I remember these streets as a kid, the colony's another 10-20 minute walk, tops."

They both nodded to each other before setting off in the direction she was pointing, still breathing rather heavily from their rather intense fight.

During the walk Laetana's mind began to wander, about the fight...and about feeling Archer's soft skin beneath her hands. She shook her head, she needs to be focused. They could be attacked again, ambushed, she needs to be aware of her surroundings…spirits he was warm. He felt nothing like other Turians, and she liked it. She could feel the hardness of his muscles moving beneath the skin, the glaze and smell of his sweat the…

"Holy shit".

Archer's voice snapped her out of her perverted daydream and she stopped herself from almost bumping into him. She looked ahead and gasped.

They were here.

It did not look good.

 **The distraction was the Banshee. Also sexual tension.**


	4. Chapter 4: Discovering

The colony was essentially decimated. The large sprawling mix of houses, factories and assortment of buildings were either flattened or blown apart. The only things still standing were located at what could only be described as the centre of the colony with what seemed to be a large warehouse/factory surrounded by smaller shelters and buildings.

Archer saw Laetana visibly stiffen, her eyes growing wide and beginning to moisten with tears. He placed a hand on her shoulder and tried to think of something, anything to say in order to bring what little comfort he could offer, but he said nothing. There was nothing really he could say.

Without warning his grip suddenly tightened "look" his voice in disbelief. Laetana raised her head just in time to see a shuttle rising from the small amount of standing buildings before zipping off upwards into the sky. The both looked at each other in shock before Archer suddenly realised that the shuttle was distinctively white and blue, the colours of the Systems Alliance.

"That was Alliance! That shuttle, it was a Kodiak. I'd recognise it anywhere!" They turned towards each other, shock and disbelief clear on Laetana's features.

"So if they're here…" she trailed off.

"That means they've begun extraction, or have been for past couple of weeks."

Laetana turned back towards the colony before almost running towards it, causing Archer to almost stumble over in an attempt to catch up with her.

"Serbius is definitely still here, he was one of the top engineers. It's probably why the powers still running."

"If he was he would've already been extracted" Archer replied.

Laetana slowed down a touch allowing Archer to catch up. "How would you know that?"

He paused slightly before speaking "the mission was to extract the engineers and armourers, they were the top priority and were given first access to the shuttles".

Laetana gave him a strange look. "What about the civilians? People who weren't top priority?"

He seemed to have trouble with this and began fidgeting with his Omni-tool.

"Archer."

"The children certainly would've been extracted, if there were enough shuttles…but if not…" He trailed off before steadying himself "we needed the ones that had the most benefit to this war. If we had filled a spot with civvies we may have left behind some who was an expert at propulsion systems, or shielding or… look I know it's fucked but we have to look at the bigger picture. Like you said we are being exterminated. We need all and any help we can get."

Laetana tried to see reason, she really did. She was a Turian after all and had the message of public service and self-sacrifice for the greater good all through basic training. But the thought of simply leaving those behind because of who they were or what they did…it troubled her. What if Serbius was a cook? Or gardener? Would they have left him behind?

He could see clearly uneasy look on her features but chose to remain silent.

They walked slowly through the broken and destroyed buildings in silence, avoiding the piles of dead, both reaper and other species alike. As they both turned a corner they could see the untouched centre buildings with figures walking around in the distance and hurried their pace. Nearing the centre they were greeted by an enormous AA gun, acting like a silent guardian. Archer whistled under his breath causing Laetana to turn around.

"What?"

"No wonder that Destroyer we saw earlier was damaged, that's a GC01 AA gun. The Silverback." He slowed his pace to stare up the giant weapon, marvelling in its size and shape. Laetana having almost no clue what this meant quirked her face plate in confusion, a clear sign for Archer to explain.

"We had these before we discovered mass effect tech on Mars. Usually AA guns are either mass accelerated or are laser built like the GARDIAN's. This is an Alliance invention and works similarly to a Gauze Rifle, using literally a hunk of metal and shooting it towards its target thanks to magnetic fields. The Destroyers shields were designed to stop something affected by mass effect fields traveling at a certain speed. The Silverback fires much slower, pretty much negated any shielding and enemy ship may have."

Laetana craned her head towards the massive weapon, it was beautifully ugly.

"Why aren't these everywhere?"

"Well for one they're expensive to make, you have a finite amount of ammunition and well, they fire quite slowly. If it's targeting one target another can sneak up and take it out with a couple of shots."

As they were talking they noticed an increase of movement and voices being herd from the buildings ahead, being spotted they moved on from the gun and traversed towards the upcoming barricade which held a mounted turret in its centre. As they moved forward three figures were briskly moving towards them, upon getting closer they realised they were an Asari, Human and Turian. Their weapons were held downwards but fingers were kept near the triggers.

"They look pretty intense. How about I do the talking?" said Archer, turning his head slightly.

Laetana replied with a shrug, her mind too focused on finding Serbius.

As the neared the Asari put up her hand, signalling them to stop. Archer responded in a crisp salute.

"Archer Davis, 10th Frontier Division."

"Yes. We know you're with the Alliance and why you're here" the Asari responded curtly.

Archer lowered his hand and removed his helmet, "so the extractions have already begun?"

The Turian male spoke "they are yes, but too slowly. We have too many people here."

The Human finally had his chance to speak, "we are being extracted yes, but it's…complicated. We'd rather discuss it all with you inside, there's a bit to go through." Laetana noticed this Human's accent was similar to Archer's. Perhaps they came from the same land mass?

The barricade opened, revealing a ramp in the middle which both climbed up and started to follow their new tour guides towards what they could assume was the main encampment. Archer walked with the other three, discussing the colonies defences, population and what had occurred so far. Laetana hung back, not in the mood for conversation and trying to keep an eye out for Serbius. Suddenly a male Turian took it upon himself to sidle up to Laetana, evidently looking up and down her body before turning his head towards her. "Thank the spirits, anther Turian. How long you been traveling with the Human?"

"Around four days now" she didn't bother to look at him.

"Damn, sorry about that, I know how infuriating they can be, he hasn't tried to do anything towards you yet?

This made Laetana turn around in shock towards his brassiness and struggled to keep a straight face at the poor attempt of flirting. She was tired, anxious and actually felt pretty crappy, she wasn't really in the mood for the xenophobic white knight, she decided to have a bit of fun.

"Well he started getting flirty when we met which I ignored, but afterwards we both realised what the hell? And pretty much have been fucking vigorously for the past couple of days" While speaking his eyes shot upwards and he failed to hide the look of disgust from his face as Laetana continued. "I had no idea how big humans were, shit, it took me a couple of hours to be able to walk normally again." She almost blew it when her voiced wavered and she threatened to laugh.

Having the desired affect the Turian clearly was gripping his rifle way to tight and started to almost snort out of his nose in hatred.

"That fucking monkey!" He harshly whispered "what in spirits name were you thinking? Why would you even want to be with one of those?" He shakily pointed his hand to a group of nearby humans, a female and her two young. One was barely old enough to walk and Laetana inside laughing slowly dissipated. "We should have wiped them out at the first contact, I should teach that piece of shit a less-"

Laetana threw him against a wall, silently but harshly, she twisted his wrist causing him to drop the weapon and put her face closer to his. "No you won't" her voice like steel "oh you can try, and you can try cause it'd be pretty fucking funny to watch you get snapped in half by him, but you won't. The second that you get near him you will lose your most valuable asset". He glanced down and paled slightly at the large blades hovering near his crutch. "Now do me a favour and don't fucking talk to me again".

She stood up and briskly walked over to Archer who had finished his talks and linked her arm around his, knowing the Turian would see. Archer looked down and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. In fact he began to blush and a smile crept up on his face.

After a few minutes of walking they reached to main building which appeared to have been and armaments factory, the assembly line and machinery clearly been stripped for parts. The Asari broke off and went inside before coming back with a Batarian. Archer tried his best not to show distaste, he hadn't had the best experiences with Batarians. This one wore a tank top with cargo pants and military styled boots, he appeared to have a fresh, recently stitched scar running around his head, barely missing his bottom left eye. To put it bluntly he looked extremely threatening and Archer would've involuntarily put a hand on his side arm if it wasn't for the fact the Batarian had a tiny Asari infant strapped to his chest, sleeping silently and completely unaware of the dangers around her. The Batarian wiped his hand on a rag and put out his hand to both Archer and Laetana, his grip like a vice.

"Names Rarkus. I've been told who you were and frankly we need the help."

"Just tell us what to do" Archer replied

The Batarian smiled, showing his sharp teeth, "steady on there human, you don't know what we need first. I take it you saw the shuttle?"

Both nodded.

"We've been holding out for just over a month now, this is all that's left of the colony. That shuttle has been coming in for the past three weeks, slowly extracting our people. The only problem is those Reaper Kra'tash have been stepping up their attack, we've refitted the colony with defensives but it won't hold out for long. They're coming again and they're gonna hit us with everything they have. We need more shuttles, we need more extractions."

"Why not just let the shuttle pilots know?" Laetana queried "have them pass on a message?"

"These shuttles are automated" answered Archer. "We don't have enough pilots for every shuttle so they've automated them. When a beacon is released a shuttle will lock onto that signal and travel back and forth until it's terminated or the beacon is switched off. Plus imagine the thousands of refugees on the carrier? It'd be total chaos. No message would be able to get through."

"Let's not forget they have the rest of the planet to extract" the Asari piped up. "We may be the largest colony but we're definitely not the only one."

"And the shuttles have a weight limit" said the Turian "won't take off if we pile people inside."

Laetana rasied her hands in surrender "spirits I get it, we need more shuttles".

"You have a beacon I take it?" Archer turned towards Rarkus who nodded in return.

"We found it upon some Alliance soldiers who…well they didn't make it. Sorry human."

Archer nodded in appreciation. "So what help could we possibly provide? You already have a beacon."

"That's correct but we believe we may know where a couple more are" Rarkus smiled in response. "We have very little fighters here, the ones we've already sent have yet to contact us. We supply you with what you need and you get out there and bring back those two other beacons. You might even find some of your people to still be alive."

Rarkus's logic seemed sound, three shuttles should be enough for extracting the rest of colony. Plus the chance to find some more Alliance soldiers would be perfect.

Laetana suddenly spoke up, "Rarkus, do you know a Serbius Ablius? He's a male Turian, red markings, engineer?

Rarkus turned to her, his voice quiet, "yea, knew him well, best damned engineer we had."

Laetana turned pale her voice a whisper "had?"

"He volunteered to go with the soldiers to try and find the beacons. As I said we…haven't heard anything from them. Or him"

Laetana's mind raced, so he may not be dead. He knows how to fight, he's with other soldiers. He'll be fine. She looked up to Archer who nodded back and gave her a reassuring smile.

Another reason they have to find these beacons.

 **Sorry for the relatively short chapter.**


End file.
